


Dolomite's Kindergarten

by sweet_witch_hella_knight



Category: Dexter's Laboratory, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crystal Gems (Steven Universe), Gem War, Kindergarten (Steven Universe), Other, also the deedark is barely there but mandarks crush is always there, any death in this fic isnt actually death its just poofin, gem au, its not necessarily mutual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 09:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7356259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweet_witch_hella_knight/pseuds/sweet_witch_hella_knight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A hyperactive runaway pearl finds a high-tech kindergarten run by a genius gem, makes it her home, and messes with it and its owner every day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dolomite's Kindergarten

In spite of the battle raging among her, Pink Pearl remained hopeful. She had no real clue where she was, or why anyone was fighting. All she cared about was finding a place to have fun without getting broken. 

She didn't understand why the Diamond Authority wanted her dead. She had only tried to appease to her, as a good Pearl should, through dance, a medium she found the most comfortable and free. Pink Diamond did love to watch her dance, as she was the most talented of any Pearl on the market. However, she had made a fatal mistake, breaking choreography and losing herself, inevitably destroying part of the Diamond's beloved mantle. Now she was on the run for her life, having hastily boarded the first ship she found, placing her on a war-rampaged planet. She didn't know why anyone was fighting but was managing to stay under the radar until she found a safe space.

She did like the planet, though! Its flora and fauna all captured her attention, sometimes distracting her long enough to almost get herself caught. It wasn't often a Pearl got to navigate such a vast and beautiful area! It made her realize how icky the Diamonds really were to her and her friends- restricted and forced into decoration. She couldn't stand still for long enough to ever be good enough for anything but entertainment, but after that little incident that was probably not an option anymore either. 

Now something else had her attention: a huge rocky canyon, separating two walls covered in holes, full of strange robotic drills containing what seemed to be plasma, suspended by large spidery legs. Pearl's eyes widened with intrigue. With no second thoughts, she tiptoed into the potentially dangerous area. She wanted to explore as much as she could- who was gonna stop her, anyway?

Pearl poked her head into some of the empty holes low on the ground, shouting "Hello!" into them to hear if they echoed. She even walked into them, as many were much greater than her, about the size of a Quartz. In fact, in some holes barely peeping over the ground, she could have sworn she saw the gleam of some gems. She even recognized some large footsteps in the dirt that weren't hers. It spooked her to imagine some of those things coming out of a fully-formed hole and attacking her, but she perished the thought. 

She pranced around and poked at the legs of a drill. She began to climb on top of it, hoping to see a larger view of her new favorite planet. Sure enough, once she reached the top, she got a glimpse of the whole place- drab and ominous, which somehow didn't damper her glee. Pearl began to rock on top of the object, shaking it more and more, until eventually the injector toppled over, dropping her to the ground (unscathed) and shattering the plasma within. Pearl looked at her mess and cringed, but doubted anybody would notice, because she didn't see anybody else around. 

Then she heard a voice: "What is going on here?!" She panicked and hid inside one of the empty lower holes. She heard footsteps approach, then saw a figure's shadow. She peeked her head out to observe a medium-sized Gem with long robotic limbs, sporting a long white coat and goggles, a shock of orange head upon his head. She watched as he arrived at the broken mess of a drill, fell to the ground and gasped. 

"No! My injector!" she watched the Gem shout. "That could have developed a brand new army!" The Gem picked up the shards of glass. "Who could have done this?" He sounded incredibly dejected, then switched to anger quickly. "Must be a Crystal Gem..."

Crystal Gem? Pearl had heard that term thrown around often, and had learned in her travels that they were rebelling against Diamond authority. The idea of breaking free of the Diamonds, given her retrospective disagreement with them, appealed to her but she wasn't really concerned with war, or current events in general. She kept hidden as the Gem ranted, then shook his head and turned their fingers into a screen (whoa!).

"Locate any new Gems in the kindergarten," he told the screen. To Pearl's surprise, the screen began scanning the entire area (a "kindergarten" apparently, which now clarified some conversations she had overheard on the battlefields), then began to beep.

"One unknown Gem: Pink Pearl, 5000 years old."  
The Gem's face twisted with confusion. "Impossible. She's even older than I am. Besides, we don't make decorative Gems here. We make warriors!" He followed his screen's directions as it pointed arrows in the direction of Pearl's hiding place. He peeked into the low hole to find her, skirt and pigtails, curled up inside. She looked nothing like the powerful Quartz typically found within the holes.  
Forgetting danger for a second, Pearl smiled genuinely and brightly and waved to the new gem. "Hi!"

The Gem fell back in shock, slipping in the plasma and falling on his back onto a sharp shard of glass. He jumped up and yelped. Pearl slowly crawled out of her space, smiling despite the stranger's pain. Excited to meet a stranger who wasn't a warrior, off went her motor mouth.

"What's this place for? It's pretty cool, even if it is kind of ugly. What kind of gem are you? Are you in the war that's been going on? What's this thing do?" She leaned on a leg of the broken injector that was suspended in the air.

The Gem stood up, brushed himself off, and stared up at Pearl with attempted authority. "Well, I'm the Dolomite assigned to maintain this kindergarten, to which you have dealt damage." He gestured to the mess behind him. "I don't know exactly who you are, other than a simple Pearl, and why would a Pearl would even be in my kindergarten instead of with her assigned Diamond? Were you produced here, in some strange defect?"

"No, I just was wanderin' around this planet and I found this place!" Pearl responded 

"Well, get out of here!" Dolomite was now shouting. "I do not need any Pearl wrecking my kindergarten! This is a very important location, as it is a Prime Kindergarten, meaning it is the number one location for the production and distribution of Homeworld soldiers. The Diamonds are very proud of me, as I am a technical genius, and it is crucial that I maintain this area as efficient as possible...."

Pearl wasn't listening to Dolomite's rant, instead casually fiddling with the injector leg. As he kept talking, she leaned more on the leg until she put all her weight on the leg, lowering it to the ground directly over where Dolomite was lost in stroking his ego. By the time he saw the impending doom, screamed and tried to run, the leg had already impaled him, leaving behind a single white dolomite gemstone. 

Pink Pearl shrugged and picked up the gemstone. She figured she'd hold onto him until he reformed and kept going on about whatever he was going on about.


End file.
